Quote:
Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu
I look at it this way. My father was born in Wales, l have been to various parts of Wales of the years. And they are great people.
I worked in Wales in the time of the Miners strike, where thousands of miners were ripped to pieces on what to do wether to work or go on strike to support there families.
The Mining Industry has been wiped out by Conservative Party, and now we have the steel Inudustry being wiped out by cheap imports. And yet, the Conservative Party are allowing this to happen.
They spent millions saving the banks, and yet they cannot save British Indutries. They are allowing cheap foreign imports to enter the British Market.
I believe what is happening is that Cameron and his puppet Osborne are just selling out to countries to can offer something to the rich, never mind communities.
Many years ago, this Country was the Biggest exporter of major goods. Now we are selling out
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That's a very simplistic view of things.
The steel price has been wiped out (Over 50% fall in 12 months) because Iron ore has dropped like a stone. You're quick to blame China for this mess, but they propped up the market for over 10 years by being the biggest new purchaser of commodities by far, raising their prices and thus keeping our (And Europe's) steel industries afloat be keeping prices higher across the board.
Now China has wobbled, they have a massive over supply of iron ore and thus domestic steel production and like us, it is killing them also. The Chinese strategy is to kill off legacy plants and invest in new tech like electric cars and the tech behind that. It's going to be painful for their industries to adapt too, and while the ruling party may be safe there, on the ground there's a painful transition happening.
That and as they know too well, the old coal fired steel plants are literally choking them to death. The government there are acutely sore about the charges their people are levelling against them regarding air quality and frankly, the status quo of producing steel (And other factory products) cheap with no regard of how it is made will not continue.
It's all too easy to look at the superficial reasons for anything. The mining industry was brutally closed because they were dragged on a decade too long and by the time Thatcher closed them they were a messy, old, and more importantly woefully uncompetitive industry. What happened after that is the scandal, as the divide between the areas that received support, and those just left to rot are pretty obvious to this day.
You can believe what you like, but if you look at this graph and tell me this is somehow Cameron and Co's doing, you are delusional.
http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/BCOM:IND
Click 1Y on the graph. This is a measure of all commodities in the Bloomberg Index. As a whole, there has been a fall of near 30% since may. This affects everything from energy, to agriculture, to industry. Primary producers, from Iron Ore miners in Australia to dairy farmers here and in NZ are screwed.
Usually, places like PT would actually benefit from lower input prices, but because of our energy prices being too high, and because blast furnace produced steel is among the least efficient, it simply cannot cope with price falls that not only out-strip input cost falls, but with no market to sell their products to with too much steel in the first place.
As I said before, this is brutal, unfair and I feel for those affected, but we cannot support legacy industry just because that is all a community knows. Port Talbot needs targeted support to utilise the workforce and their skills in a way that CAN compete in an international market, not keep going a plant that is not fit for the 21st century.